Casualties spec vs elites?

[smallrobot]

Will I suffer less offensive casualties when sending elites instead of specs (assuming same number and str)?
What about defensive casualties? MS/NS/NM/etc?

Is there ever a reason to build ospec for half or dspec fo humans?

[natebane]

yes the losses will be higher for specs, not sure of the ratios. elites for both halfer and humans are defensive by their nw values, so for a stronger offense yes a mix of ospecs and elites are fine. no dspecs for humans, same def value and nw elite but you get some extra offense to use if needed.

[nooblet]

Specialist and elite casualties are the same as a percentage of units sent. You'll usually lose fewer elites on attacks because of sending fewer elites to break a target. Basic soldiers do die at a higher rate though.

Specs are useful for dragonslaying, and for human/halfer they're no worse in their offense/defense than elites, so why wouldn't they use specs? Races with strong offensive elites have far less incentive to use offspec, but they have their time and place.

[Palem]

Base casualty rates are 7% on offense, 5% on defense iirc.

[natebane]

i stand corrected, although I'm curious about the NS ratios myself. Anyone know the percentages of solds, specs, and elites killed from NS?

[nooblet]

At maximum without mods, something like 1.1% of total spec and 0.3% of total elites, halved if the armies are out. NS soldiers takes quite a lot, like 8-10%. I forget the exact rates, but I think the guide and angel's calculator is wrong.

[Bishop]

Army being out should make no difference to NS.

[natebane]

I've found varying rates on these, but most were older utopia temple posts, so wasn't sure how much the formulas have been tweaked or not.

[Landro]

Army being out should make no difference to NS.

My observations tell me that waiting for troops to get home before doing NS causes higher casualties.

[Landro]

Will I suffer less offensive casualties when sending elites instead of specs (assuming same number and str)?
What about defensive casualties? MS/NS/NM/etc?

Is there ever a reason to build ospec for half or dspec fo humans?

specs and elites die at the same rate in combat but NS and NM have the strongest effect on soldiers and the least effect on elites. This might be true for MS too.

[vines]

Yeah but also keep in mind while a 100% elite army will not die as fast a 100% spec army give more building and spec credits.

[nooblet]

MS damage to soldiers, specs, and elites at home is consistent, with a maximum of about 1% lost per tick. As far as I know the losses are split evenly among troops at home... every time I've lost a lot of def spec, I've lost a proportional number of elites, and when I lose few specs I've lost few elites.

The thing about armies being away reducing NS damage is just something I've heard, but never tested myself.

[Bishop]

My observations tell me that waiting for troops to get home before doing NS causes higher casualties.

NS was changed specifically so you did not have to wait for armies to return home. There should be no difference.

[Winnetou]

Yeah but also keep in mind while a 100% elite army will not die as fast a 100% spec army give more building and spec credits.

This is the first time I hear something like this. How's so ? Isn't the credits earned based on the actual gains ?

[KuhaN]

Vines the Philosopher.